March is Women’s History Month, and we are proud to highlight the careers of some of the illustrious, innovative women who helped make the Department of Pathology what it is today. These early pioneers went above and beyond, setting the stage for future females in science and medicine.
Following is a timeline with some known dates and names, compiled in large part from the book, “History of Pathology at UAB: 1945-2008,” co-authored by C. Bruce Alexander, M.D., Professor Emeritus, and Margaret Dotzler, former department employee. While not comprehensive, this list represents some of the amazing female faculty making up UAB Pathology.
1945—The Medical College of Alabama moves to Birmingham from its original location in Tuscaloosa, and the Department of Pathology is created
1952—Faculty photo includes Drs. Beulah Hathaway (front row, right end) and Ingeborg Johnson (second row, second from left)
1960-61—Two women additional female faculty pictured: Dr. Claire Wimberly-Elliot and Miss Patricia Amos
1963—Hathaway becomes full professor. Previously she had been an executive assistant to the department chair at UVA. She completed her M.D. and residency training from UVA and served 1 year as instructor. She came to UAB in 1950 and went from instructor to assistant, associate, and then full professor. She was Chief of Laboratory Service at the VA Hospital from 1954 until her retirement. (Shown seated, fourth from end, with Ingeborg Johnson at right).
1968—Dr. Beulah Hathaway—[Shown in 1973 at center] Director, Pathologists’ Assistant Program—a program she initiated as an answer to the anticipated future shortage of pathologists.
Other female faculty at this time include: Eoline McGowan, M.D., Ittee Sirisinha, M.D., and Hazel Gore, M.D., Associate Professor.
Dr. Eoline McGowan (July 25, 1930-June 15, 2017) was sued in a 1992 case against the Red Cross for failure to screen for HIV-infected blood that was given in a transfusion. The case was ultimately dismissed.
1969—Hazel Gore, M.D., wife of faculty member Dr. Ira Gore, she joined the department in 1969 as Associate Professor with a dual appointment as Assistant Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology. She had served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School’s Department of Pathology from 1952 to 1969. Gore became full professor by 1972. In later years, the Hazel Gore, M.D., Endowed Professorship in Gynecologic Pathology would be named for her.
She was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in March 2014 (Read more.)
1975—Dr. June Fore Shaw (p. 48)—Director of the Blood Bank and Transplantation Immunology Laboratory; she was invited to serve as member of the Blood Bank and Transplantation committee of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease. https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/June_Shaw
Dr. June Fore Shaw, March 19, 1930-July 15, 2014
Shaw eloped at 16 and had a daughter and two additional failed marriages before she decided to become a doctor. She earned her M.D. in 1960 from UA College of Medicine and completed residencies in clinical and anatomic pathology. Shaw directed UAB’s Blood Bank and tissue-typing lab, and co-founded the American Association for Clinical Histocompatibility Testing. Shaw was known for her love of short skirts, flashy cars, and the Grateful Dead. She was a member of the National Organization of Woman and campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment. Obituary: American Association for Clinical Histocompatibility Testing.
1970—Clinical faculty Sarah Polt, M.D., Assistant Professor, Director of the Division of Serology, and Patricia Amos, BS, MS, Director of Education
1975—Paulette Shirey Pritchett joins the department as clinical assistant professor, and is promoted to assoociate professor in 1971. A prominent surgical pathologist, she died unexpectedly in1984. The department went on to name the Paulette Shirey Pritchett Endowed Lecture for her. She got her M.D. in 1969 from UAB SOM and was a resident in the department from 1970-72. Pritchett finished her training in California, then worked at the Medical College of Virginia before returning to UAB Pathology in 1975.
1980—Drs. Eoline McGowan, Linda Norton, Sarah Polt, Associate Professors, along with Drs. Sonia Kheir and Aubrey Lurie, Assistant Professors, as well as Drs. Paulette Pritchett and Beulah Hathaway, two of 40 clinical volunteer faculty members.
1990—Joanne Murphy-Ullrich, Ph.D., is recruited by then-chair Jay McDonald, M.D., to help build research and graduate student training in the Molecular & Cellular Pathology Division. She comes from a post-doctoral position at the University of Wisconsin.
Also on faculty that year: Elba Turbat-Herrara, M.D., cytopathologist in the Anatomic Pathology Division who earned her M.D. and residency at UAB before completing a cytopathology fellowship at the University of Mississippi.
1991— Stephanie Reilly, M.D., joins the department as a visiting assistant professor. She was promoted to Associate Professor, Anatomic Pathology, and Autopsy Section Head until her retirement in 2019.
1993—Faculty photo includes Ona Faye-Petersen, M.D. (who joined in 1992 and retired in 2021), Catherine Listinsky, M.D., and Stephanie Reilly, M.D. (who started in 1991 as an assistant visiting professor, and retired in 2019
1994—Marisa Marques, M.D., joins the department as a resident in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology. She completed a fellowship at UAB in Hematopathology in 1998 before joining the faculty as assistant professor in the Division of Laboratory Medicine. Marques was promoted to associate professor in 2004 and to professor in 2008. Marques served as Professor, Laboratory Medicine, Director, Stem Cell Facility, Callahan Eye Hospital Lab, until her retirement in 2023, after 30 years of service at UAB.
2007—Dr. Ona Faye Petersen is named Outstanding Woman UAB Faculty Member for her academic, teaching, research and community service contributions. Faye-Petersen spearheaded the very successful Suits for Success program at UAB, a clothing drive for disadvantaged women in need of professional attire for job interviews and work. This campus-wide event run by the UAB Commission on the Status of Women is a weeklong event each spring. In the 14 years since its inception, it has resulted in the donation of countless work-appropriate outfits for My Sister’s Closet in the YWCA Downtown, as well as its shelters in North and Central Alabama.
These are but a few of the countless outstanding women who have worked to make the UAB Department of Pathology what it is today.